Not my best work but the story must go on! We now will get a glimpse of some of Calleigh's miserable memories.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Memories of Heartbreak

As Calleigh Duquesne was walking toward her Hummer, she noticed that several faculty members and students were running past her. She knew something was wrong; teachers don't run in high-heels unless something, or someone, was after the students or other members of the faculty. She looked at the evidence bag in her hands then at the school. If Horatio and the others were in trouble, someone would have called by now.

Seeing that she was practically at her car, she unlocked it, tossed the evidence bag in the back (and out of sight), locked the car again, pulled out her gun, and dashed back to the high school.

Frank was still there helping the staff evacuate the remaining students.

"Frank! What's going on?" Calleigh asked the Texan.

"Dani said there was a ghost in the guidance office," he explained. "Delko went after it. Dani was against it, but he went anyway. She and Horatio are going after the specter right now."

Calleigh's eyes became big as saucers. "And they went without the right equipment?" she asked exasperatedly. "Frank, I've read the manual for the ghost hunting equipment. Eric and Horatio are sitting ducks without them. This ghost is most likely the one that attacked the lab yesterday."

"Are you talking about the cougar that attacked me and Natalia, the hornet that chased Delko and Wolfe, or that shadow I heard attacked Horatio yesterday?" asked a very confused Frank.

"All of the above," Calleigh answered. "The hornet and the cougar are one in the same. It's a shape-shifter. The shadow can sense our emotions and feed off of them. If we don't stop these ghosts soon, Horatio and Eric will be the newest ghosts to haunt Miami."

Horatio aimed his gun at the ghosts in front of him. He knew that it wouldn't do much, but it was the only weapon he had. Dani floated next to him, her fists flaring with ecto-energy ready to strike.

Spectra dropped Eric, who at this point was barely conscious, and slowly floated toward the crime-fighting duo. "I've sampled your emotions, lieutenant. But I wonder what this little Phantom is hiding. If she's anything like Phantom then she must be as delicious as him."

She advanced towards the duo while Bertrand held onto Eric. She stopped when she heard someone jiggle the door handle again.

"Horatio? Eric? Dani?" a female voice called. The three heroes immediately recognized the voice: Calleigh.

The shadow then smiled evilly. "Now this will be interesting! Bertrand, why don't you keep our guest company? This one isn't going anywhere," she referred to a semi-conscious Delko. Dani could tell he needed medical attention. He looked like a vampire drained him dry. Bertrand dropped Eric and phased out of the room.

The next moment Dani knew, Spectra pinned Dani against the wall. The girl started screaming. Horatio fired a warning shot into the ceiling to get Spectra's attention. The moment Spectra's attention went to Horatio, Dani became intangible and phased through the wall.

"No! I was so close! I only got a taste of the trauma that that girl endured!" Spectra shrieked.

"Stay out of my head!" Dani yelled as she phased back into the room and landed a punch in Spectra's jaw.

Spectra smiled a little. "Got a small taste of trauma. I wonder what happened that traumatized you so much?"

"None of your business!" Dani shouted back. Spectra fired a ghost ray at her, knocking the ghost girl to the ground.

"Dani!" Horatio called. He didn't remember the last time he's felt this useless. Shooting at the ghost was not only pointless but also risky on Dani's part.

Spectra fired another ghost ray at Dani.

"DANI!" Horatio shouted.

Dani, knowing she wouldn't be able to turn intangible in time, just raised her arms in front of her face (in a defensive position) and closed her eyes.

Calleigh was storming back into the building. Of all the reckless things Eric has done, this was the most reckless. He should have known that regular bullets wouldn't affect ghosts.

She entered the guidance office and found it empty but she heard voices coming from one of the rooms. Calleigh tried opening the door but it wouldn't open.

"Horatio? Eric? Dani?" she called. Moments later, a blob phased out of the room and stared at Calleigh. She gasped at the sight of the creature. 'Natalia wasn't kidding! It really is a blob.' A young girl's screams could be heard from the other side of the door. Horatio's gun was heard. Calleigh pulled out her gun and aimed it at the blob. "Miami-Dade Police! Hands where I can see them!"

The monster laughed. "You seriously believe that I would raise my hands and peacefully surrender to you? Don't even try to put cuffs on me. They'll just go right through my wrists," he taunted.

Calleigh wasn't going to back down that easily. "You better let me in that room right now or I'll shoot you," she threatened.

The blob laughed again. "Bullets go right through me, Britney! You're just as dumb as any other blonde!"

To the monster's surprise, Calleigh smirked. "Everyone thinks they're clever when they call me stuff like that. But you know? It's not that funny!" She struck the creature with the butt of her gun. Unfortunately, the gun became stuck in his body. She pulled at it and tried to free it from his slimy grip.

"You really are a dumb blonde," he taunted. Dani's ghost ray was fired at him, freeing Calleigh's gun. The ghost girl then phased back into the office.

"Yeah?" said Calleigh. "Well then I'm a dumb blonde who is about to kick your slimy green ass." She pulled out a taser gun.

Bertrand, thinking it's just another plain old gun, laughed again. "How many times do you have to hear it? Bullets can't hurt me."

Calleigh grabbed a water bottle that was sitting on the front desk and splashed Bertrand with water. She then fired her taser gun before he had a chance to retaliate. The result was instantaneous. Bertrand screamed in agony as volts of electricity ran through his amorphous body. His body then burst, splashing the room and the Southern Beauty with green slime.

"Oh, gross!" she cried. Who knew how long it was going to take to get this stuff out of her hair.

Spectra the phased out of the room, completely out of it. She looked around the office, seeing the mess and realized what happened.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" she shrieked.

"What did I do to him?" Calleigh repeated. "I gave him what he deserved. He should have known better than to mess with a smart blonde."

Spectra growled and tackled Calleigh to the ground. The ballistics expert began suffering the moment she hit the floor.

Calleigh, like Horatio and Eric, saw memories of her past flash before her eyes. She saw the memories of her parents' brutal divorce. All those nights of driving her alcoholic father home from the bar. Hearing the gun that ended John Hagan's life (it was a suicide) in the ballistics lab. Her attraction to Special Agent Peter Elliott shattered upon learning that he was engaged and he didn't tell her. Jake Berkeley charging extra mimosas on her tab, calling her sobriety in question after being attacked by a pair of thugs. Sitting by Eric's bedside while recovering from a gunshot to the head. Finding out who supposedly shot Horatio. Shooting at a suspect fleeing the scene of a crime only to see that the suspect is Eric Delko. Helping Horatio search the Everglades for Eric after the getaway car crashes. How guilty she felt upon learning that it was him whom she shot. So many tears were shed over that. All these memories were ones that broke her heart.

Spectra's feeding was interrupted when a ghost ray struck her, knocking her off of Calleigh.

"Get away from her!" Dani called.

Meanwhile, Tom returned to the morgue and was looking at all the dead bodies from Lenore High School. After getting a warrant and permission from the parents, the first three suicide victims were exhumed. All three deaths were ruled suicides but on closer inspection Tom discovered that that wasn't the case. The kids also had similar injuries as Butch Warner and Holly Seabrook: their bodies appeared to have been drained to the point where they couldn't move.

The first victim, a seventeen-year-old boy, died of an overdose of cough syrup. Tom performed an autopsy on him and discovered that the kid was force-fed the medicine. Bruising on his arms show that the kid resisted his attackers. The bruising was overlooked because he was on the wrestling team.

The second victim, a fifteen-year-old boy, died by jumping off a bridge. Tom discovered large bruises on the kid's back, indicating he was pushed. No one noticed them.

The third victim, an eighteen-year-old girl, died by slitting her wrists. Someone or something held her arms down, Tom discovered, causing bruises to appear on them.

Bottom-line: the bruising on all these kids was caused peri-mortem. They were murdered by whatever killed Holly and Butch.

Ryan came in. "Hey, Tom! Get anything from the first three victims?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Tom replied proudly. "I got a closer look at them and discovered they had the same things as Holly Seabrook and Butch Warner. All three were drained to the point where they can't move."

"They were killed by that shadow monster," Ryan realized.

"The one that attacked Horatio yesterday?"

"The same one. It's actually a ghost that feeds off of people's negative emotions," Ryan explained.

Tom furrowed his eyebrows. "Feeding off a person's emotions…sounds like a vampire."

"Dani said the same thing."

"If the shadow is after humans' negative emotions then what about those weird green animals?"

"Natalia and Calleigh think the hornet and the cougar are one in the same. Natalia saw the cougar turn into an amorphous blob of ectoplasm," Ryan answered.

"Glad Walter didn't see any of it," Tom muttered.

Ryan's cell phone started ringing. It was Frank.

"Wolfe? You better get your ass to Lenore High School. Horatio and the others got pretty banged up," Frank said grimly.

"What the hell happened?" Ryan asked concerned.

"That stupid pile of glowing Jell-o struck again! It attacked Delko and Calleigh."

Ryan's eyes went wide. "Again? Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they'll live. But Delko is more beat up than Calleigh. Paramedics sent Delko to the hospital. They let Calleigh go. If Dani hadn't interfered, she would be just as bad as Delko," said Frank.

"What about Horatio? Is he okay?"

"He's not hurt but he's pretty pissed," Frank replied bluntly. "Make sure you come prepared if you know what I mean."

"Got it. Thanks Frank." Ryan ended the call. He then turned to Tom. "Looks like our two ghostly friends struck again. They attacked Calleigh and Eric."

Tom's eyebrows rose. "Are they alright?"

"Yeah, they'll be fine. I gotta bring some ghost hunting equipment with me in case they come back," Ryan answered. He left the morgue and went to the ballistics lab where the ghost hunting equipment was stored.

Don't worry, folks! Everyone will be alright!

Relax, Bertrand is not dead...again.

What happened to Dani and Horatio? You'll have to wait and see in the next chapter.

Review, would ya? I've been lacking them lately!